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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27248752">the book is lying open (there are tales to be told)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/advanced_fanatic/pseuds/advanced_fanatic'>advanced_fanatic</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Magnus Archives (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Background Relationships, Enemies to Friends, F/F, Gen, It's more likely than you think!, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist &amp; Alice "Daisy" Tonner Are Best Friends, M/M, Past Georgie Barker/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, and ended up with her in prison for police brutality, and jon and melanie's canon dynamic is fascinating, background Daisira, background jonmartin, but they could have had SUCH a good friendship too, daisy already went through her coffin character development, elias can rot in his own shit for all i care, except elias of course, guess who is back on their bullshit, hat: knitted, in a series of events that started with her practically adopting her younger cousin, like don't get me wrong i love jon and daisy's friendship, me ignoring canon relationships in favor of making everyone in the main cast friends?, my usual bullshit contact names, oneshot: written, progressed to said cousin vandalizing a police station with his friends to protest police brutality, self indulgent wish fulfillment: the fic, the fact that jon and melanie could have been friends is so important to me</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:16:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,468</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27248752</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/advanced_fanatic/pseuds/advanced_fanatic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Melanie and Jon, and their tumultuous journey to becoming friends.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Basira Hussain &amp; Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Basira Hussain &amp; Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist &amp; Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Georgie Barker &amp; Melanie King &amp; Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist &amp; Tim Stoker, Martin Blackwood &amp; Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood &amp; Sasha James, Martin Blackwood &amp; Sasha James &amp; Jonathan "Jon" Sims | Archivist &amp; Tim Stoker, Martin Blackwood &amp; Tim Stoker, Melanie King &amp; Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Sasha James &amp; Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Sasha James &amp; Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist &amp; Tim Stoker, Sasha James &amp; Tim Stoker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>70</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the book is lying open (there are tales to be told)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>From the moment she met him, Melanie King <em>hated</em> Jonathan Sims. He was a stuck-up, arrogant, rude little prick, and Melanie had absolutely no qualms saying all that and more to her roommate, Georgie Barker, when she got back from their first class together.</p><p>"Surely he can't be <em>that</em> bad," Georgie said, smiling at some secret joke.</p><p>"He is, all that and <em>worse</em>," Melanie groaned. "Seriously, you are <em>so</em> lucky you never had to meet him. I hate him. I hate him <em>so</em> much--I can't believe I have to sit next to him for an entire semester!"</p><p>"Why not switch seats, if it bothers you that much?" Georgie said.</p><p>"Because that would be letting him <em>win</em>," Melanie replied. "I can't back down! Not now! Besides, that class is important to getting Ghost Hunt UK up and successful. It's not some--some foolish, mockery-based pipe dream designed to extort the masses." Melanie groaned again, letting herself fall back onto her bed. "He's taking the class too. Why bother if he doesn't even believe in the supernatural?"</p><p>"How do you know he doesn't?" asked Georgie.</p><p>"He was <em>such</em> a skeptic in class, asking the teacher about proof on and on and <em>on</em> in that stupid posh accent of his! It was ridiculous! Like, not <em>everything</em> needs to be proven, you can have a healthy layer of mystery in there--that's what makes it interesting! Gives us room to discover, or to create our own legends! We don't need answers for <em>everything</em>."</p><p>"Maybe he does," Georgie said.</p><p>"Maybe he needs <em>my boot</em> up <em>his ass</em>," Melanie grumbled.</p><p>Georgie laughed. "Maybe he does," she admitted.</p><p>Melanie grinned, triumph coursing through her veins like liquid fire. Georgie had an <em>excellent</em> laugh, and Melanie had already made it a point of pride that she would make Georgie laugh that laugh as much as possible.</p><p> </p><p>Melanie met Georgie Barker on move-in day. She had overslept and so arrived late, and by the time she came in, Georgie was already all unpacked, her half of the room neatly sorted, sitting on her bed with a book and her phone.</p><p>"Sorry I'm late," Melanie had grunted, lugging in her box of various knickknacks,  dropping it on her bed, and heading out for her suitcases.</p><p>"It's fine," Georgie said, smiling at her, putting down her book and phone and hopping off her bed. "You want some help with that?"</p><p>"Sure, thanks," Melanie replied. "My dad's on his way up, too, but if you want to help..."</p><p>"Definitely." </p><p>Melanie liked Georgie's smile, a lot. </p><p>"So did your parents help you move in, or...?"</p><p>"Oh, my ex did, actually," said Georgie. "A lot of the reason we were dating is that we were going to the same college, and neither of us were interested in a long-distance relationship. It ended...amicably enough, although we're still in that awkward post-breakup phase. Hopefully that'll end soon, though."</p><p>"You're friends with your ex?" Melanie asked, impressed. Usually whenever she broke up with someone, it was in a mess of screaming and barbed insults, and they couldn't even be in the same room as each other, let alone <em>friends</em>.</p><p>"Yeah, I mean, he's been my best friend since we were kids," Georgie said. "Honestly, we make much better friends than we did romantic partners."</p><p>"I hope you guys make up soon, then," Melanie told her.</p><p>"If he stays away for longer than a few months, I'm forcibly removing him from his dorm and <em>making</em> him be my friend again," Georgie told her. " And his suitemate already promised to help me. I'm not going to wait until we're like...30, and he shows up on my doorstep wanted for murder, or whatever."</p><p>"Murder?" Melanie asked, amused.</p><p>"I wouldn't put it past him. After all, it was his idea to break into the police station and spraypaint everything pink," Georgie said.</p><p>"I love him already," Melanie said. "Seriously, you have to introduce us once you guys are talking again or whatever."</p><p>"Will do!" Georgie replied, smiling.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"--<em>ARROGANT,</em> ANNOYING LITTLE PRICK! YOU WOULDN'T KNOW A GENUINE PARANORMAL ENCOUNTER IF IT BIT YOU IN THE ASS, AND HONESTLY WHEN THAT HAPPENS I WILL RECORD IT AND <em>LAUGH</em>!" Melanie shouted, glaring down at Jonathan Sims, who was scowling right back.</p><p>"<em>If</em> something like that were possible, it would no longer be <em>super</em>natural, because it would have interacted in a provable way with the natural world," Jonathan sniffed.</p><p>"And what if you didn't have proof, huh?! What if you only had what you'd seen and nothing else?!" Melanie shot back.</p><p>"Then it wouldn't be real, clearly. I would have probably had a stress-induced hallucination like every other idiot who believes they met a giant man-eating spider."</p><p>"It could have been a ghost or a werewolf," Melanie told him, thrown a little off by the sort of creature Jonathan had brought up. "Literally most supernatural creatures bite--a giant spider, <em>really</em>."</p><p>Jonathan crossed his arms, scowling. "Spiders are far larger threats than any sort of supernatural creature. You're never more than five feet from a spider at any given time, and many varieties are venomous. It only makes sense that <em>if</em> a supernatural being <em>did</em> exist--which they don't--it would be a giant spider."</p><p>"Are you <em>afraid</em> of spiders?" Melanie asked, incredulously. </p><p>Jonathan flushed. "Spiders are a very rational thing to be afraid of. Much more rational than <em>ghosts</em>."</p><p>"I'm not afraid of ghosts, though," Melanie pointed out. "I want to hunt ghosts."</p><p>"And that means you're not afraid of them?" Jonathan asked. "My cousin Daisy hunts things she's afraid of, all the time. Or, she used to."</p><p>"She quit because she was <em>afraid</em>? That's dumb," Melanie said.</p><p>"No, she quit because she was--was hurting people, and she realized it was the wrong thing to do. Daisy wouldn't let fear stop her from doing what's right. That's <em>why</em> she quit. She realized she was doing the wrong thing, and hurting people, and that she wasn't who she wanted to be."</p><p>"Good for her. It's still dumb that you think <em>spiders</em> are <em>scary</em>."</p><p>"Actually arachnophobia is quite a common phobia, and--"</p><p>"Alright, time to go!" A tall, buff young man swung his arm around Jonathan's chest and started pulling him away. "As hilarious as your little catfight is, we don't want it to turn into a dissertation on the evils of spiders, right Sash?"</p><p>A young woman with dark hair hanging loose over her shoulders rolled her eyes. "If you think that was a dissertation, I have horrible news for you. You should have heard him after Martin found one in the shower and took it outside."</p><p>The young man shuddered dramatically. "Poor Martin."</p><p>"Actually, I think he quite enjoyed it," the young woman said. "He loves spiders. <em>And</em> knows a lot about them."</p><p>"He was very into the debate," Jonathan muttered, hanging limply from the man's arm. "It was unnatural."</p><p>Melanie snorted. "<em>You're</em> unnatural."</p><p>The young woman rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry about Jon, he can be a little much sometimes." She stuck her hand out for Melanie to shake. "I'm Sasha, Sasha James."</p><p>"Melanie King. You're actually friends with this asshole?"</p><p>"He's not so bad when you get to know him."</p><p>"Yeah, he's worse!" called the young man.</p><p>"<em>Tim</em>!" Sasha swatted at him. </p><p>"You're all horrible people," Jonathan grumbled. He still wasn't making any effort to get away from the young man, who Melanie was pretty sure was called Tim, even as Tim started ruffling his perfectly brushed hair, even though he made an annoyed sound.</p><p>"We love you too," Tim said, starting to noogie him. This time Jonathan struggled. Melanie snickered.</p><p>"We're the RAs in his residence hall," Sasha explained. "Or, technically, Tim's the RA. I'm rooming with him."</p><p>"And you can stand to be around him?" Melanie said, incredulous.</p><p>"He's really not that bad when you get to know him," Sasha said. "I know he can be...a lot, and I'm pretty sure you guys bring out the worst in each other, but...really. Maybe you could come out to a coffeeshop with us to study one day, and just hang out?"</p><p>Melanie frowned. "Why?"</p><p>"You seem like a pretty cool person, and besides, it's run by Jon's cousin's wife, so we get a friends-of-the-family discount and free refills."</p><p>Melanie frowned. "Will I have to play nice with him, then?"</p><p>Sasha shook her head, grinning a little. "Nah, Basira's cool like that. She doesn't really get involved. Besides, I think she still kind of holds Daisy's arrest against Jon, even though it was totally Daisy's fault and she pled guilty anyway."</p><p>"Arrest?" Melanie said. "For what?"</p><p>"Sorry, it's not my story to tell," Sasha said. "But you know, Basira or Jon might tell you, if you guys are on good enough terms."</p><p>Melanie sighed. Sasha and Tim seemed nice enough, and whoever Martin was, if he was willing to argue with Jonathan about spiders, then he couldn't be too terrible. Besides, cheap, good coffee and a possible blackmail story on Jonathan was too good to pass up.</p><p>"Sure, whatever," Melanie said.</p><p>"Great!" Sasha grinned at her. "See you there!"</p><p> </p><p>Georgie was, for whatever reason, much more enthusiastic about the coffeeshop meeting than she should reasonably have been, given that she hadn't gotten an invitation and only knew about Jonathan through Melanie's stories about their many and varied fights.</p><p>"You're going to have a great time," Georgie repeatedly assured her, and while Melanie had her doubts, she wasn't particularly inclined to argue, because she did actually want to enjoy it, and to enjoy the discount. If she didn't at least play nice, she wouldn't get that, and if she wanted the blackmail on Jonathan getting his cousin arrested, she would probably have to do more than that. "It's a really nice café, and Tim and Sasha seem like good people."</p><p>"They are, I don't know why they put up with Jonathan," Melanie said.</p><p>"Well, maybe this afternoon you'll see," Georgie replied. </p><p>"Maybe," Melanie said. She didn't quite believe it, but she guessed there was a chance. Besides, Sasha and Tim seemed cool, and she was willing to bet that Martin was as well. "I have a meeting with Doucheard first, though, so I doubt I'll be in that good of a mood when I show up."</p><p>Georgie grimaced in commiseration. "Well, maybe one of them have to deal with him too, and they'll understand."</p><p>"I hope not," Melanie said. "I would not wish dealing with Elias Bouchard on my worst enemy."</p><p>"Not even Jonathan Sims?" Georgie asked.</p><p>"He's annoying, but even he doesn't deserve that. I swear, the fucker's part of a cult or something," Melanie grumbled.</p><p>Georgie rolled her eyes. "The cult of academia, maybe. It'll be fine."</p><p> </p><p>"I hate Elias Bouchard so fucking much," Melanie groaned, slumping in a chair at the coffeeshop fifteen minutes late. "<em>So</em> much. So fucking much. He's pure evil."</p><p>"You've met him?" Jon asked, sounding almost sympathetic. Melanie guessed that even the most annoying bastards could hate Elias Bouchard.</p><p>"He's my fucking advisor," she groaned, pressing her face to the table.</p><p>"Oh, me too. I'm so sorry for your loss."</p><p>"My loss?"</p><p>"Of a beneficial advising experience and a perfectly good two hours of your life."</p><p>Melanie snorted. "You're not half bad, Sims."</p><p>"Oh! Thank you. You aren't half-bad either."</p><p>"If you ever tell anyone I said that, I'm going to kill you," she threatened.</p><p>"Don't worry, your secret's safe with us!" sang Tim, and Melanie was forcibly reminded there were other people here too. "But seriously, though, it sucks that you're stuck with that creep. Does he stalk you, too?"</p><p>"Stalk?" Melanie repeated, horrified. "No--not that I've seen--he's a <em>fucking stalker</em>?"</p><p>"We think he's stalking Jon," said a chubby young man with strawberry blond curls. Melanie guessed that he was probably Martin. "He keeps showing up in places where Jon is and where <em>he</em> shouldn't be."</p><p>"Like outside our residence hall, for example," Tim said. "I think Gerry nearly beat the shit out of him when it started."</p><p>"Jesus Christ," Melanie said. "Is he trying to recruit Jon for his cult or something?"</p><p>"He has a cult?" Sasha asked.</p><p>"I thought he spent all his time jacking off into spreadsheets," Tim added.</p><p>Melanie snorted. "Maybe that's what he does in between running the cult."</p><p>"Maybe it's a spreadsheet cult," Jon said.</p><p>"What, like, they worship the almighty god of Excel, Steve Jobs?" Sasha asked. "What do they even make the spreadsheets about, anyway?"</p><p>"The people they stalk," Jon said. "The spreadsheet has their schedule and personal information on it."</p><p>Tim snapped his fingers and made finger guns. "That's it! It's not the god of spreadsheets they serve, it's the god of voyeurism! Elias is just a stale cracker of a person, so he uses the spreadsheets to keep track."</p><p>Everyone laughed, and Melanie was shocked to realize that she was actually enjoying herself. This enjoyment persisted as she got her discounted coffee and cheese Danish, and even though she didn't get the story of Jon's involvement with his cousin's arrest, she was added to their groupchat as they headed back to the dorms. She was still grinning when she got into her and Georgie's room.</p><p>"How was it?" Georgie asked, looking up from her homework. "You have to tell me everything!"</p><p>"It was okay, I guess," Melanie said, unwilling to admit that she might have been wrong about Jon. "I mean, it wasn't too terrible."</p><p>"Wasn't too terrible, huh?" Georgie asked. She was still grinning at her.</p><p>"<em>What</em>?" Melanie asked.</p><p>"Oh, I don't know, every other time you and Jon have talked, you've ranted about it to me for literal hours," Georgie pointed out. "<em>I</em> think you and Jon got along well and you just don't want to admit it."</p><p>"No way," Melanie said, even though Georgie was completely right.</p><p>"Sure," Georgie said, smiling and rolling her eyes. "I'm glad you're friends now."</p><p>"We're not friends," Melanie immediately protested, but secretly, she agreed. She was glad they were friends.</p><p> </p><p>This newfound friendship did not, however, stop Melanie and Jon from bickering at every available opportunity. It wasn't screaming fights like before, but they could spend hours debating anything, although they still tended to fight about the supernatural more than anything else. For a skeptic, Jon sure knew every argument for the existence of the supernatural well. Melanie guessed that he must have done his research. Which, fair. He definitely was the type to look up every single argument and counter-argument possible.</p><p>And then something that felt inevitable and yet completely unexpected happened.</p><p>Melanie got a crush on Georgie.</p><p>"She's so beautiful! Like, she's pretty too, and hot, definitely hot, but those aren't good enough terms to describe her? She's <em>amazing</em>, Jon, seriously. How am I supposed to live with her?"</p><p>Jon shrugged, making a note on his paper. "Tell her?"</p><p>"Are you insane? Jon, have you ever <em>actually</em> dated someone?" Melanie asked, aghast.</p><p>"Yes. Once. We broke up. I keep forgetting to text her."</p><p>"I can't believe you're fucking straight," Melanie said, horrified beyond belief.</p><p>"Biromantic, actually. And I think asexual, although I haven't has a sufficient test for that as of yet. She was very good with boundaries, even though I'm frankly terrible at setting them. I know I'm bi because I have a crush on Martin."</p><p>"Have you told him?" Melanie asked. She knew that Martin had a crush on Jon. It was extremely obvious. She thought that if either of them had confessed, they'd be dating by now, but honestly, with Jon, it was hard to tell.</p><p>"I'm going to talk to my ex-girlfriend about it first. She gives excellent advice." Jon circled something in his notebook and turned the page.</p><p>"Jon. No. Bad. Do not text your ex. Especially about your new crush. That's a <em>horrible</em> idea. Take my word for it, I have a bunch of exes and they all hate me, and I hate them back. Except for possible Helen, but Helen's insane anyway."</p><p>Jon frowned. "She said to text her, though. She said we would be friends still."</p><p>Melanie shook her head earnestly. "Jon, no. No. That's just kind of a thing you say when you want a breakup to hurt less. Nobody <em>actually</em> means it."</p><p>Jon's frown deepened. "Are you sure? She doesn't lie about stuff like that."</p><p>"She might not have meant to lie, but there's a lot of emotions involved in a breakup and it's really hard to move past that," Melanie told him. "Take it from me. You have great friends here. You don't need your ex."</p><p>"She was my best friend, though," Jon said, looking dejected. "I don't want to lose her forever because I was stupid enough to ask her out." </p><p>Melanie sighed. "If it's that important to you, just say hi or whatever, I guess. But don't come crying to me when she curses you out."</p><p>Jon nodded, looking slightly ill. "Don't worry. I won't bother you." He went back to his notes with a fervor, and Melanie turned to her own work. Luckily, teaching Jon the etiquette of exes had distracted her from her crush on Georgie, although now that they weren't talking she was back to worrying about it full-force. Jon didn't seem like he was going to be a very good conversation partner about it now, though, caught up in his own worries about his ex, so she turned to Sasha.</p><p>"Have you ever met my roommate? Because she's the most amazing person in the history of the world and if I don't talk about her I think I'm actually going to burst," Melanie told her.</p><p>Sasha rolled her eyes, but turned to face Melanie as Jon muttered something about having to use the restroom and walked away, typing something on his phone. Melanie really, really hoped he wasn't texting his ex. He was annoying as fuck, but he didn't deserve to go through that. It wasn't Melanie's problem, though, so she quickly told Sasha all abut how incredible Georgie was.</p><p> </p><p>When she got back to the dorm, Georgie was happily texting.</p><p>"Guess who finally decided to be friends again!" she sang out when Melanie walked in.</p><p>"Who?" Melanie asked.</p><p>"My ex," Georgie said. "Which--fucking finally, I thought I was going to have to literally kidnap him to get him to actually speak to me again."</p><p>"Oh, cool," said Melanie, feeling slightly jealous, even though she was well aware that 1, Georgie was bi, and 2, Georgie had no intention on getting back together with her ex, like, ever. "Am I ever going to get to meet him?"</p><p>Georgie opened her mouth, and then closed it, a beautiful, mischievous smile dancing on her face. "Maybe," she said. "It depends on the situation, I guess."</p><p>"Are you hiding him from me or something?" Melanie teased.</p><p>"Who knows?" Georgie replied, smirking. "Maybe I am. Maybe he's a cult leader and I'm secretly ashamed of it."</p><p>"Nah, that's Elias." Melanie dumped her stuff near her bed. "You will never guess the bullshit Jonathan fucking Sims pulled today."</p><p>"Did he pull out a bunch of research that supports the existence of Mothman that you hadn't previously considered and proceed to debunk it all for fun?" Georgie asked.</p><p>"That's...oddly specific, but totally something he would pull," Melanie said. "No, he texted his fucking ex. Against my better judgement, might I add. Apparently, she said that 'we can still be friends' crap and he actually believed it? Which, like, nobody <em>actually</em> means unless they're you, for whatever reason."</p><p>"What can I say, people like me," Georgie said. Her phone chimed, and she glanced at it, and her eyes widened. "Um. Melanie. What were you and Jon talking about before the...ex-texting incident?"</p><p><em>My massive fucking crush on you</em>, Melanie thought, but didn't say. "Um. Stuff. He has a crush on Martin Blackwood."</p><p>"Good to know," Georgie said. She still looked like she was reeling from whatever she'd read.</p><p>Melanie's phone vibrated.</p><p>        <strong>sims sims sims sims sims:</strong> I know this is a strange request, but do you genuinely have a crush on your roommate? Also, what is your roommate's name?</p><p>        <strong>stabby stab:</strong> jfc jon did u not gather that from the thirty minutes i spent describing her absolute perfection????? also yeah her names georgie and shes super cool how did u NOT know her name before this</p><p>        <strong>stabby stab:</strong> also since u APPARENTLY know like nothing about relationships let me tell u this if she EVER finds out about these texts im coming into your dorm and killing u in your sleep</p><p>        <strong>sims sims sims sims sims</strong><strong>:</strong> Why don't you want her to know? Don't you want to date her?</p><p>        <strong>stabby stab:</strong> i mean yeah but like i want to confess on MY terms. or perhaps hers if she says something first</p><p>        <strong>sims sims sims sims sims</strong><strong>:</strong> Right. I understand.</p><p>Relieved, Melanie almost set her phone down before Jon started texting in the group chat.</p><p>        <strong>sims sims sims sims sims:</strong> HELP I NEED TO GO INTO WITNESS PROTECTION TEN MINUTES AGO</p><p>        <strong>stabby stab:</strong> JONATHAN SIMS WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO</p><p>"Melanie," Georgie said from over on her side of the room, "I have a crush on you."</p><p>Melanie choked and dropped her phone.</p><p> </p><p>Fifteen minutes later, Melanie and Georgie had officially decided to try dating, and Melanie was feeling much less inclined to murder Jon. She had to concede the fact that he didn't know Georgie and Melanie were roommates when he told Georgie about her crush (although she was very embarrassed that he'd felt the need to go into <em>so</em> much detail about her crush), but that didn't mean she wasn't still going to make him regret this terribly.</p><p>She opened the groupchat to find the others discussing the merits of Jon changing his name and moving to Alaska before Melanie murdered him. She added Georgie to the chat.</p><p>        <strong>stabby stab:</strong> mothers and fuckers meet my wonderful new gf georgie barker</p><p>        <strong>clowns fear him:</strong> oh does this mean nobody's killing jon?</p><p>        <strong>stabby stab:</strong> oh no im definitely still killing jon</p><p>        <strong>sims sims sims sims sims:</strong> Oh no</p><p>        <strong>georgie &lt;3:</strong> hello all it's nice to meet you! Melanie will not be killing Jon, don't worry</p><p>        <strong>sims sims sims sims sims: </strong>Oh thank God</p><p>Melanie looked up at Georgie, who smiled at her. "Please don't kill Jon," she said.</p><p>"Fine," Melanie said. "But only for you."</p><p> </p><p>They went to a party, a few weeks later. Jon was physically dragged along, by Tim and by a goth named Gerry, who was apparently a junior and also Jon's roommate. The party was loud and oppressive, bright lights and swirling messes of bodies mixing with music and alcohol, and at some point, Melanie found herself sitting on the roof, next to Jon, who had made his displeasure at the entire endeavor known before vanishing a few minutes in. Now they were just sitting in silence, watching the clouds pass the stars and the moon.</p><p>"Jon," Melanie said, leaning against the paved tiles of the roof and staring up into the cool night air, "do you think there's a universe where we don't end up like this?"</p><p>"End up like this?" Jon asked, legs dangling over the roof, the party below a distant thought.</p><p>She waved her hand. "Us. Friends. You know."</p><p>"Of course there is," Jon said. "Multiverse theory states that there are infinite universes with infinite possibilities. Surely there's at least one where we never met, where we hate each other, where we--"</p><p>"Are enemies in some sort of cult serving an evil fear god?" Melanie joked.</p><p>Jon snorted. "You know Georgie would never let us get away with that."</p><p>"Fair." She reached over and lightly slapped him. "Also, you're a prick."</p><p>"Hey! How so?"</p><p>"You were supposed to say no," she said.</p><p>"That would just be inaccurate, though," Jon said. "Besides, in all the infinite worlds there could be, with all the different Jons and Melanies who hate each other or don't know each other--doesn't that make it better, that we're friends here?"</p><p>"I guess," Melanie said. "When you put it that way, it does sound better than fate."</p><p>"Of course it does. Fate is ridiculous. Soulmates are ridiculous. All we have is the here and the now, and what we choose to do with it."</p><p>Melanie rolled her eyes. "Chill out, edgelord. I get that you haven't gotten up the nerve to ask Martin out yet, but you don't need to take it out on the rest of us."</p><p>Jon flushed. "This--this doesn't have anything to do with that! I just--multiverse--fate--<em>ugh</em>."</p><p>Melanie snorted again. "Just keep telling yourself that."</p><p> </p><p>All too soon, it was time for break. Apparently, Jon's cousin Daisy was being released from prison over Christmas, and they were all excited, although Melanie had overheard Basira lecturing Jon about breaking into police stations and why it was a terrible idea. Melanie was still interested in the story about that, but she had more pressing matters to worry about, like getting the perfect gifts for Georgie and her dad, and getting all her finals done. There was some buzzing about a reformed cop, Alice Tonner, who had been involved in a few proven police brutality killings (and presumably more that she hadn't been arrested for) and had come clean and pled guilty and brought forward a lot of evidence about her coworkers' various illegal activities being released from prison as well--apparently her sentence had initially been for a decade, but she'd gotten three years off of it for good behavior. Good for her, Melanie guessed. It wasn't like it really impacted her, but it was interesting to read about. They all met up in Section 31, Basira's coffeeshop, the day before they left, and spent hours talking and having fun, and Melanie and Jon got into a two hour long debate about the existence of ghosts.</p><p>"I swear to God, Jon," she sighed, "you're the stubbornest skeptic I've ever met."</p><p>Jon frowned. "Who says I'm a skeptic?"</p><p>"I mean, it's pretty obvious! You're arguing against the existence of the supernatural."</p><p>"That doesn't mean I'm a skeptic," Jon argued.</p><p>"Jonathan Sims, are you telling me you believed in ghosts this entire time?" Melanie asked.</p><p>Jon blinked. "Yes? Wasn't it obvious?"</p><p>Melanie stared at him. "Jonathan Sims, I am going to <em>fucking murder you</em>!"</p><p>He took refuge behind Tim as Georgie informed them all of the various ghost hunts that Jon and Gerry had gone on as kids. Melanie <em>hated</em> Jonathan Sims, but...</p><p>Well. At least she knew she had one friend who would almost certainly help her break into the Cambridge Military Hospital. She'd heard about a haunted train car, and wanted to get a closer look.</p>
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